Research in Motion to sell unlocked Blackberry in India

Research in Motion to sell unlocked Blackberry in India

Good news for smartphone customers in the Indian market.

Research in Motion has announced that they are now going to sell unlocked Blackberry smartphones in the Indian market.

Till now they have been offering these smartphones locked in partnership with mobile service providers.

RIM vice president (India) Frenny Bawa spoke about their plans: “We recognize the need for an India-specific business plan as it is one of the fastest growing markets. Blackberry is perceived as a niche brand in India as it is not widely available. While the enterprise segment may have been our genesis, we now want to focus on the consumer segment which represents a large opportunity.”

RIM has gone into a collaboration with Redington India for their distribution network in the Indian market.

Bawa said: “Till now, the distribution and sales in India was handled through telecom operators. Redington will set up a retail trade channel across the country and sell unlocked Blackberry handsets. One of the key barriers to growth in India was the lack of a nationwide distribution channel. We have a retail distribution model in Western Europe and Latin America which is quite successful.”